“If we can strike fear in to these sides then that would be great.”
Bold words from French coach Corinne Diacre but with the way they have performed, teams will be wary of the nightmare that is the French national team. The FIFA Women’s World Cup is well underway with each team having just completed the first of their group stage matches. The second round of fixtures begins today with the hosts France taking on Norway. The two teams have started off the tournament in positive fashion, especially France who recorded a dominant 4-0 victory over South Korea on Friday.
The inaugural match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup brought a different and more watchful eye to proceedings with a large turnout at the Parc des Princés in Paris. France entered the match on the back of some impressive form, having won six of their last seven matches in the build-up to the World Cup, their only loss came against Germany in a narrow 1-0 defeat. Having convincingly beaten South Korea on the opening day, France will now be tested against their Nordic rivals, Norway.
The Norwegians dispatched Nigeria with ease and will look to continue their winning ways with a win over tournament favourites France. Don’t let their 12th place ranking fool you, Norway will be at least expected to make the knockout rounds and the Nordic squad is packed with some serious talent, boasting the likes of Caroline Graham Hansen, who has recently signed for Barcelona Femení. This will be the second FIFA Women’s World Cup meeting between France and Norway, with the Norwegians winning the game 2-0 at the 2003 edition.
This tactical analysis preview will analyse both teams and give you an insight on their tactical strengths, weaknesses, and ways in which they can exploit the one another. Both teams will want the win to gain a major advantage heading into the final game of the group stages.
Squad & Line-ups
France are expected to face Norway with the same line up that faced South Korea. They will continue with the highly successful 4-2-3-1 formation that has served them all throughout the pre-tournament build to the World Cup. Amandine Henry will continue to partner Élise Bussaglia in midfield to provide much-needed experience and defensive cover. Eugénie Le Sommer and Delphine Cascarino rarely put a foot wrong and will likely continue as the wide attacking options. In fact, Le Sommers goal after nine minutes was the fastest in an opening game of a World Cup.
Our style will be totally different against France. We were on top of the match all the time [here] but against France it will be a totally different match, they are much more attacking than we are.
Were going to go a bit deeper, well play as more of a group. We will try to make counter-attacks against France. We have a clear plan for how were going to play against them. We know its going to be tough, but we have a very good team. Martin Sjögren
